


Cygate Ghost Romance

by nyausgris



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Humanformers, Multi, also whirl is trans bc i love that hc with my whole entire heart, and they/them for rewind, ghost au, she/her for cyc whirl and tg, use of noncanon pronouns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-14 16:37:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19277230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyausgris/pseuds/nyausgris
Summary: If you had told Tailgate how her week was going to go, she wouldn’t have believed you. A haunted doll with a very, very pretty ghost attached to it was not something she was expecting to show up in her life, yet life sure does find funny ways to do what you’d never expect.(I'll get a better title soon I swear.)





	Cygate Ghost Romance

**Author's Note:**

> this whole idea came from the infinite briefcases discord server (although if i remember right originally the focus was on ratchet and then cyclonus and tailgate got brought up as something fun) and honestly? i've just run with the idea i love this ghost au so much. i have more chapters for this planned and i also may or may not have also accidentally come up with a whole starting plot for a simpatico ghost au too
> 
> this is also the first time im ever publishing smth that *doesnt* have to do with ocs so this is a new experience ashfkash

Tailgate usually didn’t go to big auctions.   
  
Usually she stayed home and hunted around on the internet for the stuff she wanted, but Rewind had practically begged her to come with them so that they wouldn’t have to go all by themself. According to Rewind, Chromedome had _apparently_ been dragged into helping one of his friends with some strange project of theirs. At least, that’s how Rewind had worded it. Though, if she were being honest, Tailgate suspected that Rewind had asked her along because she was _definitely_ strong enough to carry some of the bigger items that Rewind wouldn’t have been able to.   
  
She followed Rewind around the auction house, trying desperately to keep them within sight. Not losing your friend among a gigantic crowd was proving a _lot_ harder than Tailgate originally expected. The place was surprisingly packed despite the fact it was just an old antique auction. _‘Geez, more people must be into collecting old antique stuff than I thought.’_ She thought to herself as she dashed through small gaps in the crowd, trying to catch back up to Rewind.   
  
After finally catching up to Rewind at a nearby table they were stopped at, Rewind pointed Tailgate’s attention towards one of the items on display.  “Hey, look up there. Top shelf. Don’t you try to restore dolls like that sometimes?”  
  
The doll in question was a beautiful porcelain doll with long dark hair and a Victorian era styled lavender dress which held  layers upon layers of various frills. However, even from a distance, Tailgate could tell the doll had seen better days.   
  
“You know, you should try to get it.” Rewind suggested, turning their attention away from the doll to instead try to get a better look at an old vintage camera.  
  
“You really think so?”  
  
Rewind nodded. “Yeah. You like to restore those sorts of things, right? That one _definitely_ looks like it  should take you a while to fix up.”  
  
Tailgate paused for a moment to look up at the doll in question, obviously giving it a lot of thought. “Yeah.. You’re right.” She says after a few seconds of silence. “I’ll try to get it, then.”  
  
Rewind jokingly nudged Tailgate’s arm. “I’d watch out though. ‘Tattered old antique doll you got at an auction’ is just _begging_ to be a horror movie trope.” They added, earning them a light slap on the shoulder and a dismayed response of ‘Don’t jinx it!’ from Tailgate. Rewind laughed. “Relax, I was kidding! Ghosts don’t exist anyways.”   
  
“Yeah, _you_ don’t think they exist.” Tailgate replies, frowning slightly.  
  
The rest of the auction was spent browsing around other tables full of old antiques. Rewind went from table to table looking at anything and everything that caught their eye while Tailgate followed loosely behind. When the time came for the bidding to start, they both sat down as close to the front as they could get.   
  
It was boring at first, none of the items passing through were anything that either Rewind or Tailgate were interested in. They sat back in the uncomfortable chairs just waiting until something one of them cared enough about came passing through.  
  
Over the course of the next hour, things of interest started to come through. However, it was mostly Rewind bidding on them. They lost most of the items they tried to bid on to someone who was willing to pay more, but they did manage to win an old vintage camera.  
  
When time came for the doll, Tailgate almost missed them bringing it up on stage. Rewind had been the one to notice, quickly elbow her, and point up towards the stage. “TG, the doll!” They whispered quietly. “Here’s your chance!”  
  
\--  
  
Tailgate returned home later that afternoon triumphant, doll in hand as she unlocked her front door. Once inside, she stopped to properly look and assess the doll’s current state. Upon closer inspection, the doll’s hair wasn’t actually black like it had appeared in the auction house, but rather a very deep violet. And though the paint on the doll’s face was faded and beginning to chip, Tailgate could see that the eyes were a piercing ruby red and the expression was calm. The dress of the doll was tattered and worn, with the ends of some of the fabric being slightly frayed and the entire thing looking like it had been bathed in dust. It wasn’t in the _worst_ shape Tailgate had ever seen, but it would definitely need some help.   
  
_‘Well, there’s no time like the present to get started.’_ Tailgate mused to herself as she the doll down on the desk in the living room and digging acrylic paint and some paint brushes out of the drawers. Turning on some music for some background noise, she then set to work. She gently took the old lavender dress off the doll and set it to the side so that it wouldn’t get paint on it and end up even more ruined. She lightly washed the dust off of the doll and pinned up the hair so it wouldn't get in the way before beginning to paint over the areas that had faded and chipped. The face, hair, and dress itself were left alone for later, and instead Tailgate focused entirely on fixing up the body for now.   
  
Hours, one full fresh coat of paint, and many small details later, Tailgate was finished with the body. She put down the now _mostly_ repainted doll on her desk to dry and decided to call it a night. Getting up from her desk, she stretched and yawned before dutifully putting away the supplies she had gotten out. _‘I’ll do more in the morning.’_ She reasoned with herself as she emptied the paint water into the kitchen sink and started to head towards her bedroom up the stairs.  
  
The next morning, Tailgate sleepily stumbled downstairs and into the kitchen. She made a quick bowl of cereal for herself, too tired to put any more effort into breakfast, before sitting down on the living room couch to watch something on TV for a little bit while she ate. However, all of that was cut extremely short when she noticed something about the doll. It was _in_ the dress. In the dress Tailgate remembered explicitly leaving it _out_ of so that the paint could dry overnight. Not only that, but the doll had _moved_ since she last saw it. She had left it on the desk last night, but now it was on the side table next to the couch. Tailgate quickly finished the rest of her cereal, though she now kept an eye on the doll rather than the TV. She began to wonder if she should call anybody about this.   
  
Eventually, she decided on calling Whirl. Whirl, at the very least, would help convince Tailgate that she was just imagining things and that she wasn’t being haunted, which with Rewind’s comment yesterday, she’s _really_ starting to believe. She picked up her phone from off the table and called Whirl.   
  
The phone rang for a bit before the call finally connected. “Hello?”  
  
“Hi Whirl. I know this is gonna sound crazy and I don’t ever call you this early in the morning but-”  
  
“Okay, you’ve already got me on board. What’d you do? Did ya beat someone up?”  
  
“What? No! No, definitely not that! I think this doll I got is _maybe_ haunted.”  
  
“Huh.”  
  
“Whirl, listen. It moved. On its own. And _got dressed_. On its own!”  
  
“You probably just did that yourself and forgot about it?”  
  
“Nuh-uh. I deliberately left it out of the dress for the paint to dry. I came downstairs this morning and it was dressed.”  
  
“Shortstack, I’m tellin’ you, you probably just forgot about it. Or maybe you sleepwalked and did it.”  
  
“I don’t sleepwalk though! You can come over to see for yourself.”  
  
“Fine. You gotta let me raid your fridge though.”  
  
Whirl stayed true to her word, showing up just a little over 10 minutes later and after hellos were said, she practically made a beeline for Tailgate’s fridge. She bumped the refrigerator door shut with her hip and made her way back to the living room, a package of sandwich meat and nothing else in her hands. “So, show me your ‘haunted’ doll, shortstack.”  
  
Tailgate frowned. It was obvious that Whirl didn’t exactly believe her and was solely doing this for the free food, but she grabbed the doll off of the side table anyways. “This one. Like I told you earlier, last night I didn’t put the dress on so the paint could dry and I left everything out on the desk. This morning I came downstairs and they were in the dress on the table I just picked them up from.”  
  
Whirl raised an eyebrow. “Them? You’re talking as if the doll’s a person.” She commented.  
  
Tailgate could feel her face flush in embarrassment. “I mean-” She started. “If there is a ghost, I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate being called an ‘it’.” She replied indignantly.  
  
“And if there is no ghost, you look like an idiot.” Whirl retorted as she shoved a slice of ham into her mouth and planted herself on the couch. She gave Tailgate a curious look before sighing. “Okay. Let’s play your game. Say there _is_ a ghost. What do you wanna do about it? Exorcise it?”  
  
“No!” Tailgate nearly shouted. “No. First, I wanna talk to them and I guess see _why_ they’re here. Second, aren’t exorcisms meant for demons?” She asked.  
  
“What if they are a demon though?” Whirl responded. “Or what if they just wanna mess with you? I know that’d be me if I were a ghost.”  
  
“I… don’t want to think about that possibility.”  
  
“HEY GHOST! DO YOU WANNA MESS WITH US?” Whirl shouted to the open air. She paused for a moment, waiting for any kind of response. None came. “Damn, guess they’re a coward.”  
  
“ _Whirl_.” Tailgate gaped.”You’re going to make them get mad and probably hurt you! I don’t want to have to explain to the police why you’re badly injured in my apartment because they’re not going to believe ‘A ghost did it’!” She exclaimed, using her feet to push Whirl off of the couch in an effort to get her to stop yelling at the ghost.  
  
“Ooh! Fighting the ghost is the fun route!” Whirl replied with a laugh as she slid down and landed on the rug at the base of the couch. “HEY GHOST, WHAT’S YOUR DAMAGE?”  
  
“Stop trying to antagonize them!” Tailgate exclaimed, beginning to sound exasperated at her friend’s antics.  
  
“If anything, what I’m doing is gonna make ‘em show up and you’ll get your proof of a ghost.” Whirl replied, obviously trying not to laugh. “HEY GHOST-”  
  
“ _Whirl!_ ”  
  
“-IF YOU’RE IN HERE, SHOW YOURSELF OR YOU’RE OFFICIALLY A LITTLE BITCH.”  
  
Before Tailgate could say another word of protest at Whirl’s needlessly rude attempts to get the hypothetical ghost to speak, a quiet voice echoed through the room.  
  
“ **Please. Shut up.** ”  
  
The voice didn’t sound angry. Sure, it sounded _annoyed_ , but not angry. It sounded tired more than anything, however. Exhausted, even.  
  
Whirl had a smug grin plastered on her face. “See? Told ya I’d get em to show up.” Tailgate wasn’t sure how to respond to her at the moment, she was too shocked about the fact that there was _actually_ a ghost in her living room.  
  
“ **You annoyed me into speaking, if that was what you were truly aiming for. I believe a few moments ago, you were almost certain that I wasn’t real.** ”  
  
“Honestly? I didn’t think you were real as I was shouting at you but, you’re speaking. Tailgate is nowhere near good enough at pranking people to pull something like this off.” Whirl reasoned, not losing the smugness of her expression in the slightest.  
  
Tailgate looked at Whirl with a scandalized expression. “I can be good at pranks!” She exclaimed. “..You’re right though that I can’t do something like this though. This is something you’d do to me.” She adds. After pausing for a moment, she looks around the open room before cautiously asking “Miss Ghost? Would you mind actually showing up? You know, so we can see who we’re talking to?”  
  
“ **No.** ”  
  
Tailgate frowned slightly. ‘ _I guess that was too much to ask.’_ She thought to herself, though she was disappointed she couldn’t see what the ghost looked like.  
  
“You’re no fun!” Whirl shouted and while Tailgate didn’t say anything, she did agree with her. She would’ve loved to see what the ghost in her living room (wow, ironic statement much?) looked like.  
  
No response came after that. The ghost seemed to have gone silent after that last simple ‘No’. As much as Whirl tried to incite more conversation from the ghost, nothing happened. Eventually Whirl just gave up on the ghost and settled to just hang out with Tailgate for a few hours, playing games and watching shows with her to both of their heart's content. Though, that isn’t to say that Tailgate had given up on the ghost. Quite the opposite, in fact. She hadn’t stopped thinking about the ghost. Was the ghost gone? Did they just not want to talk? Maybe they just had enough of Whirl? Tailgate could think of a few people who didn’t like Whirl.   
  
Even long after Whirl had gone home, Tailgate continued to wonder about the ghost. Maybe she could ask now? The ghost was able to hear Whirl earlier, they must be able to hear Tailgate now.   
  
“Miss Ghost? Are you still here?”  
  
No response. Of course there was no response. The ghost hadn’t said a word since she asked if she could see what the ghost looked like. ‘ _Did I scare them off?_ ’ Tailgate began to worry. She worried if she might have made them mad or upset. She worried if she made them leave forever.   
  
Tailgate put the doll back on the side table, smoothing out the fabric of the dress and fluffing up some of the frills of the old, tattered dress to at least make it look more presentable. It was too late to start with fixing the dress, hair, or face now. She’d just have to save it for tomorrow. “I’m… sorry if I made you upset earlier.” She began as she turned to head upstairs, hoping that maybe the ghost was listening. When nothing happened in response, she just sighed, wished the ghost a good night, and headed up to bed.  
  
The next day came and went without much of anything interesting happening. It was the weekend and Tailgate had no plans to go out anywhere, so she opted to stay in, sleep late, and relax in the comfort of her own home.  
  
Throughout the day, Tailgate tried to call out to the ghost again and again. She held out hope that each time she asked may be the time the ghost might respond again. She tried asking everything she could think of. Any and every question Tailgate could think of that wasn’t rude, she asked to the empty living room in hopes that the ghost would answer. She refrained from working on the doll, worried that maybe the ghost would dislike a small change that Tailgate had added. The ghost might not even like Tailgate’s decision to restore the doll at all. And so, the doll remained untouched on the side table beside the couch for the whole day while Tailgate went about the day doing the other things that had been on her to-do list for the day.   
  
In the evening, after everything else had been done for the day, Tailgate found herself sitting on the couch and flipping through the TV channels looking for _anything_ interesting to watch. After a few minutes, she found a nature documentary and decided it was better than nothing. The documentary wasn’t anything extraordinary, it was mostly just about the ocean and some of the creatures that inhabited shallower waters like reefs and off the beaches of some tropical islands. Tailgate yawned, starting to get tired.  
  
“ **If you are tired, you should sleep.** ”  
  
Tailgate jumped in shock, nearly falling off the couch. “You’re back! Well. You’ve _been_ here, I think? But, you’re saying things again!” She exclaimed, quickly turning to look at the doll on the table, where she assumed the voice was coming from.   
  
“ **I am.** ” The voice replied. They didn’t sound annoyed like they did yesterday, but they still sounded tired. Did ghosts need sleep too? Or were they just always tired?  
  
“Have… you been here all day? _Can_ you even leave?” Tailgate asked, hoping that she hadn’t just been talking to the open air all day.  
  
“ **I cannot be too far away from the doll so no, I cannot leave.** ”  
  
“You’ve been here all day then? Were you following me around?” Tailgate asked. She wasn’t sure what exactly there was for a ghost to do during the day but, whatever it was, it must’ve been boring, right? Even if just a little.  
  
“ **I did not follow you around, but I did hear quite a few of your questions.** ”  
  
“Oh.. that’s good.” Tailgate murmured, now vaguely embarrassed.  “I’m sorry if you heard the same question twice. I know I repeated some of them more than once.” She wasn’t really sure why she was apologizing for that but, she didn’t know what did or didn’t make the ghost upset.  
  
“ **I heard you asking my name more often than not.** ” The voice replied. Then, after a brief pause, they continued. “ **It’s Cyclonus.** ”  
  
“Oh! That’s such a pretty name! I’m Tailgate, though…” Tailgate trailed off, realising that the ghost had been here for around 2 and a half days now and they had all the time in the world to look around, “...I guess you might already know that by now, huh?”  
  
“ **I did. I heard your friend from yesterday call you that once, but it is nice to hear the confirmation that it is your name and not just a nickname.** ”  
  
Tailgate found herself trying her hardest to hide a smile, strangely happy that the ghost both hadn't just been ignoring her and that the ghost cared enough to actually want to know her name. Then, she remembered the other questions she had asked. "Oh! I have asked more than just your name though! For example, what about your favourite colour?"  
  
The ghost seemed to let out a small laugh, at least… it sounded like one. " **If I must pick? Purple.** "  
  
"Ooh, Purple is a very pretty color. I think mine might have to be Blue though." Tailgate replied cheerfully, motioning to the blue pajama shirt she was wearing. She tried thinking of a new question to ask that she hadn’t already asked a hundred times that day.  Almost immediately, she thought of one. However, this one was probably a bit more personal than names and colours. Tailgate paused for a moment, weighing her choices and other potential questions before she decided to go ahead and ask, but she was going to give the ghost a little bit of a heads up first. "Can I ask you something different?"  
  
" **You have been asking me an array of questions already.** "  
  
Tailgate took that as as much of a yes as she was probably going to get. "Are you the doll or do you just hang out around the doll?"  
  
There were a few moments of silence and Tailgate began to fear that she had driven off the ghost- no, Cyclonus again. She knew Cyclonus’ name now, there was no reason to just refer to her as ‘the ghost’. The room stayed silent as Tailgate waited to see if she had actually made Cyclonus go quiet again and begun to think maybe she shouldn’t have asked after all.  
  
After what seemed like forever and right as Tailgate was going to tell Cyclonus she didn’t have to answer, Cyclonus spoke again. " **I am not the doll. It used to belong to me, but it is not me despite how much it may or may not look like me.** "  
  
"The doll looks like you?" Tailgate asks, looking directly over at the doll once again. She tried to imagine what Cyclonus herself might look like based on the doll, but she found it kind of hard to imagine how the features of the doll would translate onto something _not_ barely over a foot tall.  
  
" **I was told it does, but…** ” Cyclonus paused for a moment before continuing. “ **I suppose I can let you be the judge of this.** "   
  
Everything was silent for a moment but it was still the same as usual. That is, until a glimmer of light appeared next to the side table. Except it didn't stay a glimmer. It swirled and grew until it was no longer just a tiny glimmer of light. It kept swirling, spiraling, and changing until it solidified and no longer resembled a stray beam of sunlight. Instead, standing next to the table that held the doll on it where the light had once been, was a woman. She was tall and had long hair so dark that it appeared violet. She had beautiful piercingly red eyes and while her clothes weren't as frilly as the clothes on the doll, they were still decidedly Victorian in design.  
  
Tailgate stared for longer than she probably would have liked. Cyclonus did look a lot like the doll, save for the fact she had longer hair and a less extravagant dress, but Tailgate was a bit too distracted to answer. _‘Primus, help me._ ’ She thought to herself. _‘I have a ghost in my house and she’s gorgeous.’_  
  
“Well?”  
  
Oh. Right, she’s supposed to be answering a question right now. “Well.. I think the doll has a tiny bit shorter hair than you and definitely has a fancier dress, but otherwise I think it does actually look super similar to you.” Tailgate replies, blushing when she realises she had been staring too long. Then, she has an idea. "Actually! Since I've already kind of started on restoring the doll anyways, I can add a little bit more effort and make sure that it looks even more like you, if you'd like." She offers.  
  
"That… seems like a wonderful idea. Thank you.” Cyclonus had a bare hint of a smile on her face, making it obvious she genuinely liked the idea. Then, Cylonus turned her head to look up at the clock, more of motioning for Tailgate to do the same rather than checking the time for herself. “However… First, I think you should go to bed. It's late and you are in no rush to fix the doll."  
  
Tailgate looked up at the clock on the wall, eyes widening when she saw that the time on the clock read 1:53AM. "Oh geez, you're right." She mumbled, quickly getting up off of the couch and turning off the TV. She thanked Cyclonus for reminding her as she stumbled around the living room, putting away things that had been pulled out over the course of the day before turning to see that Cyclonus had once again disappeared.  
  
Even though Tailgate was a little disappointed to see that Cyclonus had gone again already, she figured it was for the better anyways. She’d probably try to stay up talking to Cyclonus longer if she had seen that she was still there. "Goodnight, Cyclonus." She said cheerfully as she turned to head up the stairs to her bedroom, smiling to herself when she heard a quiet " **Goodnight.** " answer back.  
  
Maybe living with a ghost wasn't nearly as bad as horror movies made it out to be.


End file.
